With overall food prices rising 10% last year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Walmart's reputation for savings and discounts is attracting budget-conscious shoppers.
The nation's largest retailer reported revenue of $164.05 billion for its fiscal fourth quarter, beating analysts' forecast for $159.72 billion, according to Refinitiv consensus estimates. The company also reported earnings per share of $1.71 compared with the $1.51 analysts expected.
Walmart is currently the largest grocer in the country by revenue, and its generally low grocery prices have attracted low, middle and high income customers, the company reported in its earnings report.
December represented Walmart's largest month of sales volume in the company's 60-year history, driven by food sales, chief financial officer John David Rainey said on the Feb. 21 earnings call.
Additionally, total revenue for fiscal year 2023 rose 6.7% to $611.3 billion, according to Walmart's earnings report.
What this means for investors
Although Walmart surpassed analysts' expectations, the big-box retailer gave a cautious outlook for the fiscal year ahead.
As grocery prices remain high, shoppers are continuing to buy fewer discretionary items such as toys, electronics and apparel, Rainey told CNBC while explaining Walmart's predictions for the year ahead.
"The consumer is still very pressured," he said. "And if you look at economic indicators, balance sheets are running thinner, and savings rates are declining relative to previous periods. And so that's why we take a pretty cautious outlook on the rest of the year."
On Feb. 21, after the company posted its quarterly results, Walmart's shares closed higher by 0.61%, ending the session at $147.33 per share.
Here's how much money you'd have as of Feb. 21, 2023 if you had invested $1,000 into the company one, five and 10 years ago.
If you had invested $1,000 into Walmart a year ago, you'd have about $1,084 as of Feb. 21, according to CNBC's calculations.
If you had invested $1,000 into Walmart five years ago, your investment would have increased to $1,728 as of Feb. 21, according to CNBC's calculations.
And if you had put $1,000 into Walmart a decade to grow, it would have more than doubled and risen to $2,390 as of Feb. 21, according to CNBC's calculations.
Investors should do their research
Whether you're considering investing $1,000 into Target, McDonald's or other individual stocks, it's important to remember that a stock's past performance shouldn't be used to predict how well it may perform in the future.
To that point, a passive investment strategy tends to make sense for most investors. Experts typically recommend investing in low-cost index funds, which can give your portfolio exposure to a wide variety of companies since they are automatically diversified.
Investing in the S&P 500, a market index that tracks the stock performance of 500 large American companies, can be a great place to start.
As of Feb. 21, the S&P 500 declined by a little over 8% compared with 12 months ago, according to CNBC's calculations. However, the index has gained nearly 48% since 2018, and grown by about 166% since 2013.
Get CNBC's free Warren Buffett Guide to Investing, which distills the billionaire's No. 1 best piece of advice for regular investors, do's and don'ts, and three key investing principles into a clear and simple guidebook.
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